A Union of Sorts
by cole1
Summary: Josiah is all set to marry his perfect dream wife when she announces when she has a son from a previous marriage. Any takers on who it is? Yup, Ezra! And the Mayhem and Angst that follows will be enough to drive anyone crazy, even our old sensible Josiah.
1. Default Chapter

Kin AU Background  
  
I have based this AU loosely off several others already out there such as Angela B's 7B Ranch, and the Brothers Universe once in existence. However, I was always extremely interested in what would happen if Josiah were to marry Maude, there are so many references to an attraction between the two, but nothing ever seems to come of it. So on that note I decided to write a story featuring a character I don't normally favor (Josiah) and my favorite character Ezra! However, I got attracted to the idea of Ezra as a little boy (hey, blame it on Ezra's Littleverse and the Mag7kids Yahoo groups) ( and this AU is the result. Although reading the background is not a requirement it may help you understand some things because unlike my last story I have actually planned things out ahead of time. As for all my fans of A Thief's Promise, don't worry I have not given up on it, still in development, actually it is that darn Josiah who is holding me up LOL. Well, on to the character description, oh before I forget my disclaimer is still that I do not own any of the seven, some nutcases some where else do and I have no professional background in, well, any of the stuff in my stories. So I can not be held responsible for misleading you if I happen to get something wrong. Kindly inform me and I will do my best to change it, and remember Play Nice.  
  
KIN AU  
  
Orin and Evie Travis: Couple who over the years brought in "lost boys" and made them a part of their family. They have six adopted sons and had one biological son who died in a car fire six years ago. They currently have one daughter in law and one grandson who live in Four Corners. They own a medium sized ranch outside of the town Four Corners, Colorado.  
  
Josiah Travis: forty eight  
  
Stephen Travis: killed in an accident over land rights(see Sarah and Adam Travis) was twenty nine when killed  
  
Christopher Travis: Thirty four  
  
William "Buck" Travis: Approx age: twenty nine  
  
Nathan Travis: Approx age: Seventeen  
  
Kevin "Vin" Travis: Newest addition to the Travis family adopted just two years ago when Chris found himat a bus stopapprox age: thirteen years  
  
John "JD" Travis: youngest son of Orin and Evie, approx age: ten years of age  
  
Sarah and Adam Travis: Mistakenly killed in the same car fire/crash that took Stephen's life. Sarah's car had broken down and knowing that Chris was at a police conference in Denver she called his brother Stephen to come pick her up. On the way to drop them off at Orin's and recruit Josiah to help him start up the car, a car came out of nowhere and drove them off the road where they hit a utility pole killing Stephen and injuring Sarah and Adam. However, the car burst into flames and even though passerby's pulled Adam from the car they were unable to reach Sarah in time. Sadly, Adam died a few days later of injuries sustained in the car crash. It was later found that the wreck was no accident and that a Mr. , the man driving the other car had been trying to get Stephen to sell his land for awhile. Stephen had refused and on that fateful day Mr. hit Stephen's car intending it to go off the road and scare him into selling his land. He never intended for it to hit the utility pole nor for Stephen or anyone else to die. Mr. is now currently serving a life sentence with no parole in Denver. Age at time of death: Sarah: Adam : four years  
  
Mary and Billy Travis:  
  
Maude Standish:  
  
Ezra Standish: Fourteen  
  
Uncle Larry:  
  
Chapter One Description:  
  
The Meeting  
  
Maude and Josiah meet at a benefit for the homeless, where Maude is staking out her next con and mistakes Josiah for a rich sucker. 


	2. The Meeting

The Meeting  
  
The sound of sweeping classical music and gay laughter swirled out of the 50,000 square foot ballroom through the Denver Convention hall and to the very streets of Denver where many of the cities homeless were sleeping in the nearby alleyways. It was somewhat ironic then that the sound could be attributed to a benefit in these people's name. The Benefit for Denver's homeless was an extravagant affair that took place every year, it never failed to attract the wealthiest in Denver who often used the benefit as an excuse to catch up with old friends, make new business acquaintances, or in the case of the Denver Lady's Society pass some hot new juicy gossip along. Maude Standish was not interested in any of these affairs and in fact she was busily scrutinizing the crowd for her new potential mark. Maude's latest con or as she liked to call it business deal had quite literally blown up in her face. All Maude knew was that in the future deal's with men who dabbled with becoming an oil tycoon were strictly off. Right now she was looking for a nice, easy mark and since she had paid the last of her money to attain a seat at this musty affair she was determined to walk out with a fish on her hook.  
  
She had already met a few potential marks earlier and then had met their wives. She had determined a long time ago that angry wives never worked well into the scam and was now sitting at her five hundred dollar seat eyeing her next mark. He was a tall, distinguished looking gentleman with the air of gentleness about him. All night he had whisked different women around the ballroom floor but never once had he settled on one woman. He was kind and courteous to all, almost shy in some cases and if Maude had not known that the suit he was wearing alone cost as much as her seat she might have brushed him off as a simple country boy. She had heard him discussing politics and philosophy with some of his obviously bored dance partners and now had found a way to approach the man. In Maude's eye he was the perfect mark, she was just waiting to make her move. The air smelled of heavy perfume and wine and it was starting to give even Maude a headache. Apparently her mark felt the same way because suddenly he got up from the table where he had been politely conversing with a Senator whose wife had sat nearby throughout the whole conversation and made eyes at him. Excusing himself he made for the double doors on the far side of the room. Maude seeing her chance at last got up and followed in his footsteps.  
  
Josiah Travis tugged uncomfortable on his borrowed suit as the cold mountain air hit him. It seemed his luck had been failing him all night. He was never comfortable at party scenes such as these and in fact would at the moment rather be discussing an interesting philosophy with some college professors over coffee at the nearby colleges in "Lo Do". Unfortunately policy demanded that he be here at the moment, rubbing shoulders with some of the wealthiest in the city. It was not that Josiah did not enjoy the cause; indeed he was one of the main supporters of the cause and enjoyed the money brought in by the benefit. It was just that although he had to have swirled ten women around the room tonight not one of them seemed to be able to follow his conversation. They seemed for interested in talking about the newest foot fashion or what was the newest rage among the movie stars. As soon as Josiah started talking about the upcoming political race or the space continual theory they gave him blank looks and soon excused themselves.  
  
It was not that Josiah considered all women of wealth to be unintelligent; in fact he had known many intelligent women of wealth in his lifetime of fifty-two years. It just seemed that lately he had been cursed with no luck at all when it came to the ladies. If his boss had not made him come to this extravagant affair and given him a free seat Josiah would have avoided the event like the plague. He could at the moment come up with a list of at least twenty other things he would rather be doing at the moment not the least of which was visiting his family in the outlying town of Four Corners. For now though it seemed he was stuck with it and had best make the best of this event. He was about to turn back inside and mingle again when a gorgeous women in a blue fancy gown emerged from the door he was about to enter.  
  
"Oh, dear, Excuse me. I didn't mean to almost run you down like that good sir." She practically purred in a sweet southern tinged voice. "It's just that the room was crowding in on me and I felt that I needed a breath of fresh air before I fell over of pure overload of twittering gossip shrews. I swear if I heard another comment about what foot fashion was going to be in this year I just might have regurgitated my whole dinner all over their pretty gowns."  
  
"I might have joined you." Josiah surprised himself by replying. It seemed his luck with ladies was changing right before his eyes. If only he knew what the future held for him. 


	3. The Proposal

The Proposal:  
  
One Month Later.  
  
Josiah stared at the laughing woman across the table. How had he gotten so lucky? He thought to himself. For in his eyes he was blessed by a God he had forgotten about a long time ago in the form of this beautiful woman. Everything about her was perfect; she was smart, pretty, funny for Josiah the list could go forever. She liked many of the same things Josiah did and shared a passion with him for the poor. It was often hard for him to believe that they had only met a month ago. Josiah had never found a soul mate before but he was pretty sure that this is what having one felt like. She was in short an incredible woman who he looked forward to spending the rest of his life with.  
  
For although Josiah was past what was normally considered the settling down and marrying age he too had dreams of his own family; perhaps a house full of children, and a dog, every family needed a good dog in his opinion. And Josiah saw those plans fulfilled each time he looked into Maude Standish's eyes. He saw them raising a family, visiting his parent's house with a brood of Grandchildren for them to dote on, and most importantly growing old together, laughing over old memories, and God willing dieing within days of each other.  
  
In fact Josiah had brought Maude here to fulfill this very dream for in his pocket lay a velvet ring box which contained a Two Caret Asscher diamond engagement ring for which he had used most his savings on. Not to mention the many loans he had taken out from the bank and the one loan from his brother Buck in the promise that it was for a very special lady. Now he was just waiting for the right moment to ask the love of his life to marry him.  
  
Maude Standish was also waiting for the right moment, she was so close, and she could taste victory ahead. Tonight was the night he would ask her, she would say yes, and then she would be subject to the man's incredible wealth. She would stay for a couple of months and then one night would suddenly skip town with most of the man's money never to be heard of or be seen again.  
  
It was a familiar game to her and one she had played so many times in the past that it did not even occur to her to think of the devastation she would leave behind. For Maude everything was money, wit, occasional chance, and appearances. With these a woman could do anything and she did.  
  
For her Josiah was just another moneymaking opportunity, one she had carefully planned out. The man was obviously love stricken; to him she was the big catch. He was getting old; another chance like this would most likely not come along. Besides he thought they were a perfect match, the same interests, hobbies, etc. Maude had done her research very well. Besides Josiah had already admitted several times that he was rich in life, not to mention how his apartment displayed his wealth. She doubted the man would make her sign a prenuptial; so when she disappeared and later filed for divorce on some extravagant excuse there was no way he could withhold any money from her. Or she could just skip the divorce and move on to a new mark or take a vacation in the Caribbean for awhile; after all it wasn't like she had never done it before.  
  
There was only one thing that posed a problem, her son, (the only child she had ever birthed, Thank God) was due to be kicked out of whatever semi-relative of his deceased father's she had him staying with at the moment. It would be easy of course to ship the boy off to one of the many boarding schools she periodical gave money to. Frankly however, the child only seemed to generate trouble there and no amount of money seemed to be able to prevent the calls from concerned head masters, schools nurses, etc. It would not look good if Maude were one day caught by Josiah talking to a Headmaster about a non existent child. No, if she was right Josiah probably was the sentimental type who dreamed of raising a family, perhaps the boy would be useful in this con after all. Besides it would be good to see the child again, it had been almost a year now since she had seen him, it would be good to make sure he had been following the life lessons Maude had insured he knew at a very young age.  
  
Pulled from her musings Maude watched with a fake smile as Josiah reached into his pocket with a shaky hand and pulled out a ring box. The moment she had been waiting for all night was finally here.  
  
"Oh, Lord if you have ever not given me strength before please shower it on me now; please don't let me drop the ring!" Josiah prayed frantically as he pulled the box from his pocket and fell on one knee. He took a deep breath to smooth his nerves and then recited from memory what he wanted to say.  
  
"Maude, from the moment we met I knew you were the love of my life. Even though we have only known each other for a short time, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Maude, will you marry me and make me the happiest man on earth?" Maude let a moment of silence go by before she shouted as if she were the happiest woman alive on earth. "YES! Yes, Josiah I will marry you and in doing so make me the luckiest woman on the planet!" Fake tears shimmering down her face she threw herself at Josiah and passionately kissed him as the restaurant around them erupted in applause.  
  
(Cole! here: Okay just say it! Poor Josiah, you have to be the ice queen not to feel sorry for him. I mean since we all know what is going to eventually happen. Don't worry folks I will try to get it over with soon!) 


End file.
